Scotsman Obituaries: Very Rev Dr Alan McDonald, former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

And given the history of sectarian bitterness between these two footballing rivals, it takes an even stranger form of madness to attend both matches in the company of a Roman Catholic priest.

But in 2006 that was exactly what Alan McDonald did. Appointed earlier in the year as Moderator of the General Assembly, Alan attended two Rangers v Celtic matches with Cardinal Keith O'Brien, something the two men hoped would bridge the sectarian divide which for so long had poisoned these occasions.

Alan was no stranger to challenging situations. In 1993 he was a peace monitor in South Africa at the height of the apartheid riots. Alan was also a passionate campaigner against nuclear arms. On one occasion he was arrested along with many others at the Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde and taken to Glasgow's Maryhill police station. Following good Biblical tradition, they sang hymns, not, he suspected, something heard too often in the Maryhill cells.

Born in March 1951, brought up in Newton Mearns on the south side of Glasgow, a pupil at Glasgow Academy, Alan Douglas McDonald was the only child of Douglas and Ray McDonald.

Having graduated with a law degree from Strathclyde University, Alan served his legal apprenticeship in Glasgow with Biggart Lumsden before moving to Edinburgh, where he became an assistant at Farquarson Craig. Whatever career in the legal profession awaited Alan, God had other ideas. As a youngster Alan had been involved with the Broom Church Youth Fellowship and, much influenced by the minister, the Reverend Neilson Peterkin, Alan answered God's call to the ministry.

Graduating from New College in 1978, the middle year of his theological training spent at Andover Newton Theological Seminary in Boston, USA, and having completed his probationary period at Edinburgh's Greenside Church, Alan's first appointment was as a community minister in the Drylaw, Muirhouse and West Pilton area of the city.

Community lay at the heart of Alan's ministry, and whether in Edinburgh, or as a parish minister in Aberdeen or St Andrews, Alan's vision of ministry stretched far beyond the walls of any church building.

Through his involvement on the board of Christian Aid, as a regular contributor to BBC Scotland's Thought for the Day, and as a member and then Convener (2000-2004) of the General Assembly's Church and Nation Committee, Alan could not have been more committed to making sure the church's voice was heard in the public square and in the public issues of the day – and of bringing the issues and concerns of the day into the life and worship of the church.

It was no surprise when Alan was elected Moderator of the General Assembly in 2006. Alan chaired the meetings of the Assembly with consummate grace and good humour, his conduct of worship was exemplary, and in the year which followed Alan was an outstanding ambassador for the Church of Scotland at home and abroad.

Three visits stand out from his year as Moderator, all of them linked to Alan's passion for justice and peace. The first was to Elmina Castle on Ghana's Gold Coast, one of the principal points of departure for the slave trade. The second was to the Commonwealth War Memorial cemetery at Tyne Cot, scene of the battle of Passchendale during the First World War, and the evening service Alan conducted at the Menin Gate in Ypres. And the third was Alan's visit to Faslane, this time inside the nuclear submarine base to meet the station commander and others, and thereafter to the Peace Camp to meet people there.

Having married in Comrie Parish Church in July 1975, Alan and Judith celebrated their golden wedding anniversary earlier this year, these 50 years richly blessed with travel, holidays, concerts and adventures, but especially with home and family – son Neil, daughter Ali, their partners Lena and Dave, and grandchildren Maisie and Isla, Hari and Lara.

Alan was a keen marathon runner, enthusiastic golfer and music lover. Sadly Alan's dementia prevented him enjoying Aberdeen's Scottish Cup victory at the end of last season.

Alan was a man of extraordinary warmth, care, compassion and kindness, he had an endless capacity for fun and nonsense, and a deep faith, humanity and love. Alan's ministry touched the lives of so many people and touched them for good.

Rev Lynn Brady adds: You were not long in Alan's company before experiencing his humour, his kindness and his humility. He wasn't interested in status; he was a man of the people. When he hosted the reception at the beginning of his Moderator's year, his guest list included the janitor from the local school where he was chaplain, alongside many other “ordinary folk”. He and Judith shared a passion for protesting against nuclear armaments which lasted throughout his life. In his room in the nursing home, where he lived for the last year of his life, Alan had the picture of him being arrested at Faslane!

Alan was not only a Minister of the Kirk. He was a much-loved husband and father, and I remember the way he always tried to ensure he or Judith could finish work in time to welcome the children, Ali and Neil, home from school. He loved watching them grow to adulthood, and was delighted to become a father-in-law to Dave and Lena. Alan loved being Papa to his beautiful grandchildren.

I am the minister I am today because of Alan and Judith. The hospitality they showed me and the example they set for me. They always accepted me, and encouraged me, and when I was going through hard times Alan and Judith would be in touch. Ministry is all consuming and we can get caught up in our own busyness and self-importance. Alan taught me to laugh at myself, and he told me, “Lynn if you have time with nothing in your diary do not fill it up, just take that time back for yourself”.

Obituaries

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